Adjustable height shutter

Claim 1

A shutter that is characterized by the ease with which its height may be adjusted comprises: a pair of extruded plastic side rails having uniform cross sectional configuration over their entire lengths, said cross sectional configuration being defined by a flat front wall having outer and inner vertically extending edges, an outer side wall flange extending rearwardly from the outer edge of the front wall, another flange extending rearwardly from said front wall and laterally spaced from said side wall flange and set back from said inner edge so the marginal region of said front wall extends inwardly of said other flange and provides a planar surface facing toward the rear, a re-entrant lip spaced from said other flange in a manner to define a single open-sided and open-ended channel track coextensive with the lengths of the side rails with its side opening facing toward said planar surface, a louvre panel molded of plastic, said louvre panel comprising a plurality of spaced apart louvre slats in substantial parallelism with each other and laterally spaced apart runners to which opposite corresponding ends of said slats are respectively connected, said runners having a cross sectional configuration that is substantially complementary to the shape of said channel of said track to enable said runners on one or more louvre panels to be slid into and along said track and between said track and said planar surface with said slats extending through the respective side-openings to compose the body of a shutter, said runners on said louvre panels being comprised of plastic strips which are thin enough to be easily cut for removing one or more louvre slats and said rails are thin enough to be easily cut for shortening the lengths of said rails by an amount cut from said runners, to thereby enable the overall height of the shutter to be reduced, top and bottom end panels for composing the frame of said shutter in cooperation with said side rails, said end panels each having a front wall and laterally spaced apart side walls extending rearwardly and integrally from the front wall, said side walls serving as runners for sliding in said track channel and having a cross sectional configuration that is complementary to that of said channel, said end panels having top and bottom walls, respectively, and lateral extensions of said walls which extend to said side wall flanges of said rails to close the respective tops and bottoms of said end panels and to provide means for fastening said end panels in said rails, insertion of said end panel runners in said channels constraining said louvre panels against sliding from said channels, said lateral extensions having flanges for extending in juxtaposition with said side wall flanges of said rails to enable passing the shanks of fasteners through said last named flanges and rail side wall for holding said shutter together.